ceiling deal. and by the way, the president's intransigence on this, this idea that he won't negotiate, republicans are looking at this and saying, well, we actually did get a fair amount of spending cuts the last time we fought on the debt ceiling in the budget control act of last year. the president said that this deal now would have to include an extension of the debt ceiling that they just got to avoid the fiscal cliff. well, he ultimately folded on that. so as a tactical matter, even in their minority position, they can look at this and see, well, there is some gain to be gotten here if we keep pushing on this. i think the flip side of this is also a big challenge for the president. if he really wants to unshackle the economy, if he wants to get more robust economic growth, does he not want to be more proactive about dealing with some of these entitlements, with dealing with the budget picture, even where he has real problems with his supposed, you know, partners in this to republicans? does h